Thoughts and ideas from the world of Majestic Mountain Sage.

I haven’t even sent samples of this soap down to the shipping department and I can already hear the cries of intrigue, revulsion and curiosity about today’s project. Eggs? In soap? Why would ANYONE be so crazy as to want to add an egg to the soap?!

Well, adding eggs to soap may or may not be crazy but allow me to explain the reasoning behind this. Eggs are a combination of water, fat and protein. This means egg soaps are a bit like a lanolin soap. Very luxurious and gentle feeling. One thing I hear frequently about lanolin soaps it that people feel like there is no need to add lotion to their skin afterward! I heard this about egg soaps too! Don’t believe me? Request a sample of this soap in your next order!

Weigh all of your oils save for 1 oz of Olive Oil to be held in reserve. Heat those oil gently until liquid. Mix your lye and water together creating your lye solution. Allow both mixtures to cool. It is imperative that you soap at a lower temperature when using eggs. They are a temperature sensitive ingredient. (We don’t want partially cooked egg strands in our soap!) In the mean time, mix the egg with the 1 oz of reserved Olive Oil. Mix well until they are cohesive.

Once your lye solution and oils are to about 110º to 120ºF in temperature, mix the two together. When a light trace has been achieved, add your egg mixture. Mix well. Pour your soap into a mold and allow to sit for at least 24 hours. Cut your soap into bars and allow to cure. (Not sure if your soap is fully cured? Get these cool cure cards in your next order for free!)

Notes: I cut my egg soap two days after making. Let’s just say that as excited as I was about this soap, I got a little distracted by my job. Hmn… I wonder how that happened? 😉 Once I finally cut my soap, I was surprised at the soft green of the center of my soap. There also was faint odor. It smelled… well… slightly eggy. 15 minutes after cutting the soap, I went back to smell it so as to better describe it to you. I was surprised at how much the odor had dissipated. So if you are worried about that smell sticking around, it won’t. I will be sending 20 samples to the shipping department so if you want one, tell us in the comments field on your next order! I am reserving the two bars shown in the photos so we can talk about color changes when the soap is fully cured.

Finished Soap

Weighing Oils

Weighing Oils

Weighing 1 oz Olive Oil

Adding 1 egg

Ready to make soap

Mixing Egg and Olive Oil

Adding Lye Solution to Oils

Mixing Soap

Soap at light trace

Adding egg mixture

Pouring soap into mold

Finished soap in mold

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About Taylor

I'm a twenty something happy, animal loving, curious experimenter. I love reaching back into history and trying old recipes for cosmetics or foods. I'm constantly asking "Why?" My curiosity has me trying new things. I love taking walks with my dog as well as staying at home to cuddle with the dog and my cats. Some of my favorite scents include Hinoki Wood, Rose Garden, Jasmine and Gladiator.

You certainly could add a fragrance to this soap but I don’t think it is “required” to cover up the egg smell. The egg smell dissipated fairly quickly. Within 2 hours of cutting the soap, I had a very difficult time detecting the egg smell. If you want a scented egg soap, go for it. If you want a plain bar, feel free to leave it unscented. You are in complete control. Does this help?

i’m thinking the faint green is similar to the green one sees around the yolk of the egg if you cook it too long (boiled eggs). this is a reaction of hydrogen/sulfur in the egg with iron in the yolk…. just a guess that this might be it. will be interesting to see change over time. why add the egg? nourishing?

Tina and I were talking about the color today. It is certainly reminiscent of over boiled eggs. The reason people add eggs to soap is because it is believed to boost lather and create a more conditioning soap. It is somewhat akin to using lanolin in soap.

Thank you for this post. I’ve been interested in and curious about making egg soap for a while. One thing I wasn’t sure of (that you have clarified ) was how/when to add the egg. The other is proportions; if making a larger batch would a one egg to one batch, or a one egg per pound of oils be best?

It’s been over a month, does it still have the green ring? Can I add an egg to any soap recipe? Mine are all lard based. Something to do with some of my extra eggs in the summer. I’m looking forward to trying this.

I was just in Fargo North Dakota and went to a Tiny Store inside one of the Hospitals their. On the Shelf there was a bar of EGG WHIT Soap. The soap was very creamy looking in color. I am GUESSING that it was the egg yolk in your soap that made for the color change. This makes me think that a person could still make an egg soap using just the whites, like the bar I saw at the Hospital store, Yet, I THINK having the Yolk would be where a person might get that more Lanolin Feel to the Soap, not the White, since the Fat in the Egg is from the Yolk, not the White. I am not sure exactly why just the egg white was placed into this other bar of soap, instead of the whole Yolk. I did take a FEW notes on the packaging and it stated this: Eggwhite Soap made with Chamomile Flowers and Lecithin that is a Facial in every way, Keep on the face for 5 min before washing off. The price for this soap was $4.99 for a small 1.85 Ounce Bar! The name on the package was from a company called : Eiwit Zeep…The pictures looked Dutch with little girls in dresses and surrounded by flowers on a Blue Label. Here is MY GUESS…I guess they used the Egg White and the Lecithin made the same effect that the egg yolk would of made, but without the coloring factor turning it green. Just a thought…anyway, I saw this Blog and felt it appropriate to write about this comparison here. This ALL made for interesting learning indeed. Thank you for your Lovely Blog Post about the use of the Whole Egg. When I make it myself sometime, I will surely post back my results. I hope you and your readers have the BEST WEEK EVER!!!! 🙂

Soon after I cut my bar, the green color dissipated and I was left with a soft, straw yellow bar of soap. I can see why someone would use only the whites if they are looking for a white bar.

I am not sure why the lecithin would be added though. Your reasoning sounds as good as any. However, determining why someone added something to their soap is difficult and we all don’t follow the same logic. My advice is to worry about what you want to add to your soap and why. That is where it truly matters.

I have recently discovered egg soap, I created my own recipe and tempered my egg with a bit of the oil after it cooled, the smell of the milk and lye I started with was awful and looked curdled, it seems the milk fat and lye were already trying to soponify. I proceeded and cut the bars the next day the color was a beige antique look. the smell was odd but dissipated over a period of days. It now smells so luxurious I cant describe it, I added no scent to this bar. I will be trying out in approx. 2 weeks. I think it will be rich, just got a good feeling for it. most recipes I found were with whites or the yolks I threw in the whole egg and I am happy to say I will be making more soon.

OK… Had to try it for myself… The soaps are amazing…. Both… Imean… separated the eggs and made one with egg yolks and another with egg whites.. The one with egg yolks was fine… I mean… I have scented it and even though had a greenish color after unmolding, in afew days it turn to a light pasteurise honey color which I love…. added a bit of TD in part of it so it is marbled…. swirled… however you want to call it. Did not smell eggy at all… or at least the Essential oils masked it… However…. the one with egg whites…. stunk like rotten eggs for a couple of hours…. The essential oils could not mask this smell… Crossed my fingers and waited. The smell started to fade right away and the following morning was just smelling like sage, as it was supposed to…

This post was of great help to me in creating a (if I do say so myself) fabulous egg soap. I used two eggs in my two pound batch and the texture of the soap and feel of the skin after washing are lovely. I don’t take pictures often, and have no idea how to put one in a comment, however, if you click on the link it goes to the page in my Etsy shop where I have the soap for sale. (If someone at MMS wants to help me to get a photo up I’d be happy to send one along.)

Thank you so much for this post, feeling confident that I new I was handling the addition of the egg correctly made giving this a try much more appealing.
Grey Dove

Ashes were placed in a pail with soft water (rainwater because we don’t want the hard minerals from groundwater and wells to interfere with the soap making process.) The soft water was heated and the ashes were stirred into the hot water and allowed to settle overnight. The next morning, the liquid was decanted and then the solution heated or was left to evaporate until the ash (lye) solution was concentrated to float an egg midway between the bottom and top of the liquid. At that point, the solution was mixed with fats and oils and soap was made.
I hope this helps!
Andee